CHINGWERE cemetery has run out of burial space, forcing people to bury their dead ones in nearby roads, says Lusaka Mayor George Nyendwa.

Mr Nyendwa said this during a full council meeting on Monday after suggestions were offloaded to work on roads at the two council-run cemeteries.

Media reports said last week that roads at Old Leopards Hill and Chingwere cemeteries had developed huge potholes.

“These potholes have been filled with rain water, causing a lot of inconvenience to motorists at the graveyards,” he said.

Mayor Nyendwa said while some plans could be underway to rehabilitate roads at the Leopards Hill cemetery, there was very little that could be done at the Chingwere where people were now burying on the road due to lack of burial space.

“People are burying on the roads at the Chunga/ Chingwere cemetery because there is no more space for burials,” he said.

Meanwhile, LCC public relations manager Habeenzu Mulunda said the local authority has already written to the Ministry of Lands requesting for land for new burial grounds for the people of Lusaka.

Mr Mulunda said there was no more space in Lusaka for a new burial site and the council was relying on the Ministry of Lands to find burial land from neighbouring districts.

“We do not have land in Lusaka, so we are waiting from the Ministry of Lands since we have already written to them over the matter,” he said.

There have been concerns over dwindling burial space at the two council burial sites in Lusaka.

Last year, the Ministry of Local Government and Housing announced that they were waiting for the Ministry of Lands to allocate them a piece of land to be used as a new burial site following the diminishing space at Leopards Hill and Chunga/Chingwere cemeteries.